Samsung drops new Gear VR finish and Samsung VR service

Samsung has unveiled another 'new' Gear VR. To match the Galaxy S8, the mobile headset has been treated to a fresh Orchid Grey finish with a glossy black faceplate and it comes bundled with the new handheld Gear VR controller we saw at MWC.

The latest Gear VR model works with the new Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ smartphones and is backwards compatible with the Galaxy S7, S7 edge, Galaxy S6, S6 edge.

As for what are effectively new mobile VR screens, the Galaxy S8 has a 5.8-inch 2960 x 1440 display which is 570ppi (the same as the Galaxy S7) and the Galaxy S8+ has a 6.2-inch 2960 x 1550 display, which works out as a lower 529ppi. The phones also have a faster GPU and CPU inside, which can't hurt when running Gear VR apps and games.

Samsung's new VR video & experience platform can be accessed from a new Samsung VR app - right now Gear VR users go to the Oculus app - as well as SamsungVR.com.

There are 8,000 360/VR videos and 2,000 experiences at launch including 'Originals' like Doug Liman's VR series Invisible. Gear 360 users will be able to livestream to Samsung VR via the Samsung Gear 360 Manager app plus Samsung said it will be easy to share and embed content around the web.

If you're itching for something new from Samsung in the VR department, we're still waiting for a true Gear VR 2. And our interest has been well and truly piqued by all the VR experiments and concepts coming out of Samsung C Lab. They include accessories like the Rink motion controllers, the Entrim 4D headphones as well as new VR technologies like Gaze It, which tracks eye and lip movements and T.O.B (Touch on the Brain), which generates the sensation of heat and touch while in virtual reality.